Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for performing control to distribute a job among a plurality of apparatuses respectively having similar functions.
Description of the Related Art
In an apparatus such as an image forming apparatus, a service engineer visits a location where the apparatus is installed to perform maintenance work such as part replacement. The image forming apparatus to be a maintenance target is installed in various locations such as an office of each user. If the number of times of maintenance increases, the number of visits made by the service engineer and a traveling distance increase. Therefore, the number of times of maintenance is more preferably reduced by replacing a plurality of parts as collectively as possible than performing maintenance every time each of the parts needs to be repaired or replaced.
A technique for implementing maintenance work such as part replacement all at once is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-21570. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-21570 discusses a method for predicting an amount of degradation for each of a plurality of consumables used in an image forming apparatus and recommending the consumables that may be preferably replaced in a collective manner at a timing of next maintenance work depending on the predicted amount of degradation.
However, in the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-21570, the consumable, which has been determined to be degraded, becomes a replacement target at the timing of the next maintenance work even if the number of times it can operate remains. In this manner, when the usable consumable is replaced, the remaining life of the consumable will be wasted. Therefore, a part cost corresponding to a remaining usable amount of the plurality of consumables is generated by merely replacing the consumables in a collective manner at the timing of the maintenance work.
If there is a consumable whose number of operable times is predicted to reach zero before the timing of the next maintenance work, the apparatus becomes unable to operate before the maintenance work so that downtime of the apparatus occurs. To avoid this, if the maintenance work is performed before a scheduled timing, a plurality of times of maintenance work, including scheduled maintenance work, is performed. Therefore, a visit cost of the service engineer rises, and a plan for the maintenance work needs to be reviewed.
In this manner, even if the life of a part such as a consumable is predicted, a maintenance cost such as a part cost or a visit cost is incurred as long as a timing at which the life of the part expires differs from a timing of maintenance work.
Similarly, in a case where a plurality of image forming apparatuses is installed in the same office, if a timing at which the life of each of the image forming apparatuses expires differs from a timing of maintenance work, the maintenance work needs to be performed each time the life of any of the image forming apparatuses expires, which takes many maintenance costs.